Fatness is a serious and common health problem in the whole western world. Certain surgical operations of the stomach or the intestine result in large and permanent weight reductions but these measures are associated with high costs, substantial discomfort and certain risks. Some conventional weight reduction methods can give short-term weight reductions but no currently known non-surgical methods can give permanent weight reduction for a majority of treated greatly overweight individuals. A basic reason for the poor long-term results is that the overweight persons are unable to make a life-long change of lifestyle. Such a change of lifestyle should in principle have to be applied every day during the rest of one's life after a weight reduction. The registering of the body weight every morning and the introduction of a so-called monitor weight which should not be exceeded is a usual way to make individuals who have lost weight aware of the need for a permanent change of lifestyle. Persons who have lost weight are encouraged to introduce a strict restriction of calories every day the body weight exceeds the monitor weight. Already the next day the person will then usually be on the right side of his or her monitor weight. Many correctly instructed patients manage the above-described or similar regimes for some months, but less than 10% of the treated persons succeed in maintaining their weight reduction for 24 months. Persons with a tendency towards fatness are evidently in need of support from more tangible aids than a scale to be able to manage their weight control in the long term.
Degrees of over- or underweight are traditionally indicated in so-called BMI-units (Body Mass Index). BMI is calculated as (body weight in kilograms)/(bodylength in m).sup.2. The normal area for BMI is 20-25 kg/M.sup.2. Overweight exists between 25 and 30 kg/m.sup.2 and individuals having a BMI&gt;30 kg/M.sup.2 are classified as obese or fat. A BMI of 25 kg/m.sup.2 corresponds to a waist circumference of about 89 cm in adult men and about 80 cm in adult women. The body length has surprisingly no significant influence on the waist circumference. A great number of epidemiological studies have shown that poor health, mortality and so-called risk factors for cardio-vascular disease (increased blood sugar, insulin, blood fats, blood pressure etc.) increase both with increasing BMI and with increasing waist circumference. Consequently, the waist circumference, like BMI, is both an indicator of overweight and a risk indicator.
In a majority of western populations the average body weight increases between the age of 20 and 60 years. This weight increase, which is associated with bad health should, if possible be prevented.
Own (Lars Sjostrom) unpublished sensitivity- and specificity data from combined normal weight and overweight populations indicates that a waist circumference of 94 (men) and 82 (women) cm, respectively, would be desirable upper normal values from a risk point of view. These waist circumferences are associated with moderate overweight. At waist circumferences of 102 (men) and 90 (women) cm, respectively, obvious overweight exists and also increased cardio-vascular risk in the majority of individuals.
The Solution:
According to the present invention, an auxiliary means for solving the above problems has been brought about and a waist band of non-stretchable material intended as an aid to weight reduction and long-term maintainance of weight reduction has been constructed and the invention is characterized in that the band is provided with a clasp in the form of a one-way lock which only allows tightening of the band around the waist but which does not allow for loosening thereof.
According to the invention, the lock includes a passage for the free end of the band which on one or both sides or all around is provided with barbs, teeth or the like and the passage on one or both sides or all around is provided with one or more resilient counterhooks intended to cooperate with the barbs, the teeth or the like and lock the waist band against being drawn backwards out of the lock.
According to the invention, the lock with its passage may be mounted on, under or at the side of the waist band in its locking end.
According to the invention, the band may have a square, rectangular, triangular, round, oval or polygonal sectional area.
The band can also, according to the invention, consist of a chain or a tube.
According to the invention, it is suitable that the lock consist of a bottom plate from which the band starts, a cover having a passage for the free end of the band and a part lying therebetween having a passage and resilient hooks at either side of the passage.
As stated above, the waist band is provided with a one-way lock, which has been designed so that the effective waist circumference of the band can only be maintained unchanged or reduced but cannot be increased. The band is applied around the waist at the beginning of a weight reduction and is tightened as the waist circumference is reduced. The excess band which has passed the locking mechanism is cut off regularly. The band shall not be drawn too tightly but only so much that it comfortably conforms to the waist. In the event of a weight increase, the band will immediately be felt and the patient will have to choose between reducing calory intake (alternatively, increasing physical activity) or cutting off the band. Common psychological mechanisms indicate that many patients would be reluctant to cut off the waist band and, by doing so, in a marked way give up the weight struggle. Thus the waist band would work as a long-term automatically supporting aid for many individuals who cannot manage to maintain the attained weight reductions in a more traditional way. In the same way, the band could be used to prevent the weight increase which commonly occurs in middle age.
The band is produced from skin-friendly material and so formed that it does not give rise to any skin irritations. If the wearer of the band, in spite of reminders from the band, increases in weight, the band shall be cut off and removed before it causes skin damage.
Obese persons do not have any waist. The band is then placed above the stomach at the lower part of the chest. When a weight reduction has resulted in a waist, the band should be placed there, i.e. between the hip bone and the lower part of the chest, as these anatomic structures can be felt at the side of the trunk.